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Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Visited boo_licious's blog and saw her post about her dinner at New Formosa. I told her that I was about to blog about my dinner there too. We didn't order any dishes though and opted for the Stonefire Hot Pot (beef and chicken) with bonito stock instead. It was my first time trying this here, the last time I was at this restaurant was many years ago, having the regular dishes.What they do is that they will fry the meat in the pot with lots of garlic, onions and spicy sauce. The beef and chicken were so full of flavour and really tasty!After the meat is cooked and served to us, they will then pour the soup into the pot. When it boils, the rest of the ingredients (yam, tofu, mushrooms, prawns, pork balls, fish balls, cabbage, chicken, foo-chook "beancurd skin" and corn on the cob) are then mixed into the pot.With some remnants of the spicy sauce, garlic, onion in the pot, the soup was simply wonderful, complimenting the ingredients. It's a different kind of steamboat, one I wouldn't mind coming back for again. Lovely.

It was recommended that we tried the Caramel Yam for dessert and I'm glad I got a chance to. Being quite full, we ordered a small portion. Slices of yam are rolled into some honey and sesame seeds and then quickly dipped into ice cold water to harden it.So, what you get is a crunchy effect on the outside with the nice soft yam on the inside. This is a great dessert!It was a good meal, something different from the norm. I'm looking forward to coming back here again.

A nickel will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat. ~ Old New York Proverb

Monday, November 27, 2006

I've a story to tell behind the post and pictures today. On Nov 4, I had posted a short farewell message to an uncle who passed away in an accident. He used to sell kuih tutu in the weekly night market in SS2 and in TamanCheras (Yulek) too.

My friend in Cheras told his daughters (who have been carrying on with the business since the demise of their dad) what I did and they were grateful that someone else remembered their dad too. One of them passed a contact number through her, so that I can email her the link. I smsed her and asked for her email and two days later, I received a call from the uncle's wife.

I never knew my short post would lead to this encounter. It was heartbreaking indeed to have learnt more about the uncle, Mr Wong. Me, being a real softie, tried hard to fight back the tears as Mrs Wong spoke to me. Apparently, it was quite a big blow to Mrs Wong and the rest of the family as Mrs Wong had also lost her son to lung cancer 5 months before the accident claimed Mr. Wong's life. It seems that Mr Wong was feeling tired but had promised a friend to help out with some errands. He was the sort of man who kept his promises. His friend was supposed to pick him up from a designated place but was running really late. As Mr Wong got restless, he decided to drive off to meet some of his other friends first. It was then the accident happened - he drove up the kerb, over the drain and crashed into some trees. Mrs Wong believed that he must have fallen asleep at the wheel for a split second and that cost him his life. He wasn't one to drive fast, and he came across to me as an alert elderly man for someone who's in his 70s, not one who has slow reflexes, I mean.

Mrs Wong tells me it has been hard dealing with the loss and she still looks at his photo every night before she sleeps. He is dearly missed by the family. Only time will help ease the pain and I told her what helped me go through the loss of my dad was to think of all the happy times I had with him. Maybe it would help if she thinks of the happy times she had with Mr Wong too. She had called to thank me for writing about him in my blog and said that if Mr Wong knew, he would have indeed been very happy too that someone thought about him enough to write about him. I then asked if she would send me a pic of him so that I can put in on my blog. I received it last Thursday from her daughter. He must have been in his 50s in the pic. So, today's post is dedicated to Mr Wong and his kuih tutu.

The daughters are doing a great job , the Kuih Tutu still tastes great. Not too much flour and tasty filling. They said they are still doing the business as a way of remembering their Dad. Mr Wong, you would be proud of your daughters. Here's to you Mr. Wong. Have a great new life! And to you, Mrs Wong and family, may your tears be dried, souls be soothed and clouds be lifted, all in good time. Live well...

May you have warm words on a cool evening, a full moon on a dark night, and a smooth road all the way to your door. ~ Irish Toast

Saturday, November 25, 2006

On Thanksgiving, I reflect on my life and feel that I have been indeed blessed, blessed with good friends and in all other aspects. Well, I'm blessed that I didn't go blind when I had my retina detachment, and even if I did, I'm blessed that I would still have one good eye! LOL!

Anyway, one of the good friends that I'm blessed with is Czar, as she is also a very good cook! Ha ha ha....I was invited for another round of makan (just plain "Eating") at her place, this time, for steamboat (it was during the Mid Autumn Festival, this post is long overdue!). All I can say Czar is a fantastic cook. She is one of those who can whip up something from nothing in no time! I'm not kidding! (Check out my post of the Raya do at Czar's house earlier). Her cousin, C, who was there too, is also a good cook and when they gather they can cook up a storm (and do it very quickly too!) More so, when steamboat is quite simple to prepare, the only part is to make sure the soup taste good! So, I don't know the recipe for the soup but when I have friends like them, I just let them do the cooking (I'll only be in the way). So here are some pics of the makan that night. Mrs Pitt, I know, I know, you are going to make sure you make a stopover at Czar's place the next time you visit Malaysia! ;o)

The food items for the steamboat

Putting some of the items into the soup to cook (the chilli you see at the bottom right corner is also home made!)

Oh, don't forget the tofu-and dinner is ready! The soup was delicious.

Home made Muachi (glutinous rice thingy covered with sugar and grounded nuts) for dessert done by C, batch by batch - so yummy!

Oh, I gotta include these two photos (posted on my photo blog before) as the kids were so cute. After dinner, they went out to the garden to play with candles and I took these shots of them. What a lovely way to end the night. Oh, Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~ W.T. Purkiser

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Czar and Tai Kar Cheh (Big Sis) of Ipoh came and fetched me for supper. I'm not too sure where they drove me to, whether it was near Wooley's but they said that I was at a place where they call the Mushroom Stop. Apparently they used to have a lot of "mushroom" shape shades in the area before it became a hawker centre.

I loved the sotong kangkung (cuttlefish with morning glory), the sauce was different and it was really tasty. We also ordered some deep fried mantis prawn (har ko), eaten with chilli sauce, it was a yummy snack. I have not been able to find this snack back in Petaling Jaya or KL (as a dish to be eaten with rice, there's my fave Ang Kee).You see the Magnum 4D results on the table above the deep fried mantis prawn snack? It's Tai Kar Cheh's. She said RM0.20 is expensive for such a small piece of paper! Ha ha ha...

Washed it all down with ais kacang or ABC (air batu campur), an icy dessert made up from a mix of red bean, corn, jelly - with added red syrup.We then headed home, bathed and I chatted with Czar till we both fell asleep! Before I knew it, my alarm went off, and it was time for breakfast. We were going to grab a quick bite before I attend the funeral service. They brought me to the Canning Garden coffeeshop.This is where Czar gets her usual fix for her fave Chee Cheong Fun. Tai Kar Cheh has boycotted this guy as she says he's pretty rude, especially when there are lots of customers. He did seemed pretty quiet to me, not rude but serious looking. But he did recognise Czar as one of his regulars as she would pack about 8 packets back for her family each time she visits Ipoh.The chee cheong fun was served on a metal plate (plus point for me) and was lovely. Served with pickled green chilli, it was a good breakfast. Anyway, we left the place with Tai Kar Cheh still vowing to boycott his stall (she ate noodles while the two of us had the yummy Chee Cheong Fun!).

I then went and looked for my friend again. Shortly after, we went to the church for the final service and we said farewell to Godma (that was auntie's nick). I also parted ways with my friend after the service as I had to go back to KL for a meeting in the evening. Czar fetched me from the church and we went off to eat a quick lunch (rice with dishes - the food was pretty ordinary).

Some colourful presentation of biscuits

We then stopped by the shops to buy some Ipoh biscuits before we headed back to Kuala Lumpur (with 10 packets of chee cheong fun hanging in the car!). It was pretty rushed but we got to do what we had gone there to do. Meet up with old friends and eat!

We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. ~ Hilaire Belloc

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Back in early October, I made an overnight trip to Ipoh. A good friend's aunt (whom I knew personally) had passed away and I went there to pay my respect and to meet up with my friend too.

I had gone with Czar who had her own things to do in Ipoh. Being on a tight schedule, we left for Ipoh in the late morning and arrive there late afternoon. By that time, our stomachs were rumbling and we headed for the nearest place for some food. At that hour not many places were opened and we ended up near the stalls at the stadium area. One of the stalls that was still opened was this Taiping MeeGoreng (fried noodles) stall (which is similar to our local Char KwayTeow- fried flat noodles).I don't know whether it was due to the fact that I was extremely hungry or the Taiping KwayTeowGoreng just tasted good on its own merit! Sorry, the pics didn't turn out well as I had accidently set it over exposed! So, the colour is off.We also shared an order of rotibakar which was different from the ones I had in KL/PJ. The Ipoh version here uses a sweet bun (yellowish colour) rather than a plain one. The kaya wasn't too sweet so, the taste came out rather nice in combination with the sweet bun and the butter of course.With our stomachs filled we then parted ways and I went to look for my good friend. We chatted and by dinner time, some of the relatives came back to the house carrying packets and packets of IpohHor Fun with chicken and bean sprouts. Since the hosts were busy tending to guests, we were all going to eat in that night. A packet was a pretty small portion (which was fine by me as I had plan to go for supper!). The hor fun (another name for flat noodles) was still pretty good, though I'm sure it would have been better eating at the stall.We later sat on further into the night to catch up on the latest news. You know, it's usually at such gatherings, that most relatives and friends would come together and chat away until way past the night. With the usual mineral water and groundnuts, it always provided the right setting for just such a meeting.To be continued - The Food

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Korean food finally comes to SS2. SeoGung (located opposite of Wong Kok, one block away) is located on the 1st floor and the big signboard made it easy for us to spot the place. It would have been easy to miss it as entrance is by a small staircase.

We found the prices high for the BBQ fare. Even the Bulgogi was at RM48/person (as compared to RM28 at Korea House in DesaSriHartamas. At Korea House, we normally opt for the Bulgogi to be cooked in front us. We will be given the usual small side dishes (a count of 8 plates in all). It does not come with rice, do take note that a metal bowl of rice here is RM5!

PICS FROM KOREA HOUSE, DESASRIHARTAMAS

The Bulgogi here tastes different each time. At times it's really good and at other times, the gravy can be a bit diluted (could be that too much water was added or it had too little marinate sauce to begin with, cutting down on some of their ingredients perhaps).

Coming back to SeoGung, SS2 we opted for the Bulgogi that is kitchen cooked and also KimchiChigae. It was a bigger stone pot as compared to the one from HaeunKhon, Amcorp Mall. Here, we were given a total of 10 side dishes, the most that I've come across. The Bulgogi was good (RM20), the beef was tender and the gravy was nice. They didn't give me the lettuce and I forgot to ask till we were half done with it, so I left it at that. So, I don't know whether they forgot or it's just not included. However the KimchiChigae still lost out to HaeunKhon's version. The KimchiChigae (RM15) here was spicy enough but a tad bit more sourish for my liking. Oh well, to each his/her own. However, I would be back here for the Bulgogi again! They have set lunches but different items are available on different days (a big confusing). The KimchiChigae set is available on Mon, Wed and Friday for RM12.90, no Bulgogi set is listed (bummer!).

Oh, here's the link again for KimchiChigae's recipe. Do let me know if it's good. It also has lots of other Korean recipes.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Czar had invited me for a fishing and photo session at Lake Edge and I gamely followed her early one weekend morning. Lake Edge is one of YTL's latest housing project with lovely landscapes and amenities. Upon reaching there, it was nice to see that the flowers have bloomed. The whole place looks lovely and I was looking forward to a fun yet relaxing time ahead.

Close up of the lovely flowers

It was about 8 plus in the morning and Roy, DN and RY decided to have an early start on their fishing adventure (armed with only sweet bread as the bait!) and went out to the pond area while the rest of us headed to the club area where the pool, gymnasium and basketball courts are located.

The gymnasium is a cool glass building while the building that houses the changing and showering rooms for the pool area is painted with vibrant colours. The infinity pool has quite a view as it looks out into the lake. Such bliss! You know, they are right when they say there is just something about the water that calms the soul. Don't you agree?

That's not an illusion, the clouds appear to be at the middle of the lake only but it's actually a reflection on the infinity pool.

I could sit (or sleep) here the whole day....so relaxing (that's is if I'm in the shade!, don't fancy getting sunburned!) Heehee...

Looking around the area, we came across the playground and again, the area was one of vibrant colours. Cool playground.

We later joined the rest of the gang for some fishing fun. They have built decks around the pond area and this also provides a lovely view to some of the houses there and to other different houses from other developers too.

The houses across the pond are actually from another developer, Lake Edge houses are of a more modern concept.One can always try a different location, as long as the fishes bite.Here's a rather big fish for a first timer!

It doesn't matter if one is a novice or a professional angler, one is guaranteed of a catch (big or small). I caught two small fishes myself, not bad for a first timer and may I remind you, using only sweet bread as bait! Ha Ha... At about 10 plus, the sun was out in full force and we decided to call it a day. It was a nice outing, a good break from the hustle and bustle of the city in a not so far away location within the city! All of us had great fun and enjoyed every moment of it. Thumbs up to Lake Edge!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

My eye feels a lot better after the operation. I mean, what do you expect when a sponge was lodged in your eye and is now finally removed??? Ha ha ha...Thanks to those who called, smsed or dropped a line here with your well wishes. And yes, I doing my touch typing now, no worries.

So, on the the final part of Taman Connaught Pasar Malam... Here are more stalls that caught my eye.

Pot Stickers and sausagesFried tofu (non stinky kind!) and other beancurd stuff!What do you want in your drinks? From the bland barley to the colourful sago and jelly.Chocolate fountain and fresh fruits now available on the streetsThis is a pretty common stall, Char Kway Teow (fried flat noodles), but the big wok and fire make a difference.Taiwan Bamboo Rice from a cheerful seller.

And of course, in case you wear out your shoes/slippers walking in this huge pasar malam, you can always get yourself these cute and colourful slippers! Dunno about the guys though! ;o) Hey, this post can't just be all about food! So, here's the obligatory non-food picture to backup that statement. LOL!

I remember asking WH how much further before we reached the end (after walking for quite awhile) and was told that we were only halfway through!). I was shocked as it seem to have no end, but of course eventually it did as all good things must come to an end. Oh well, it was indeed an eye opening trip to this place here. I could do with a lesser crowd and car traffic but I guess these add the excitement to the atmosphere. It was enjoyable and I hope to go there again one day, hopefully I won't have to drive!

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